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Korean market Kia Lotze Innovation gets minor changes a year after facelift

August 24, 2009 at 9:58 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Kia, Koreans

Kia Lotze
The “original” Korean market facelift

Kia changed their mind pretty quick about how they wanted their Korean market facelifted Optima (called Lotze Innovation in Korea) to look like. Sometime in mid-2008 they updated the Korean market Optima’s front and rear end to a younger and more dynamic look featuring sharper headlamps, the new Schreyer grille, and new LED tail lamps. They also updated the interior with new red backlighting and a new three-gauge meter cluster.

Kia Lotze
Chrome grille abandoned for sportier mesh look

For this latest minor facelift the front grille has lost its horizontal chrome slats and this is replaced with a mesh grille from the export market model. A comparison is shown above. For more details on the facelift check out our story from when the facelifted Optima was first unveiled last year in the related posts below:

Related Posts:
Kia Lotze Innovation: facelifted Optima in Korea
2009 Kia Optima facelift unveiled at NYIAS 2008

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Toyota Hilux VN Turbo uses VGT turbocharger

August 24, 2009 at 9:14 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Toyota

Toyota Hilux VN Turbo

The Hilux is the choice of nany contractors and people who actually need pickup trucks for their utility and not as a lifestyle vehicles. Alot of people who just want to experience a 4WD truck for the occasional light offroad trek and the frugal diesel engine tend to dismiss the Hilux because of its weak engine – only 100 horsepower and 260Nm of torque. This is thanks to the mild tuning of the engine, so mild that it does not even require an intercooler.

This could change. A more powerful version of the Hilux has just been launched in Thailand and its called the Toyota Hilux Vigo VN Turbo. The biggest change is highlighted in the name – it has a Variable Nozzle Turbo, also known as a Variable Geometry Turbocharger, similiar to the unit you can find in the Ford Ranger TDCi.

Two engines are available – a larger 3.0 VN Turbo (1KD-FTV) putting out 163 horses and 343Nm of torque between 1,400 to 3,200rpm, and a smaller 2.5 litre unit (2KD-FTV) making 144 horses and the same 343Nm of torque, this time over a narrower peak torque band between 1,600 to 2,800rpm. All engines are intercooled. These engines are Euro III engines (okay, so they may not end up being available here) and are B5 diesel capable.

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Next generation Hyundai Sonata pix leaked!

August 24, 2009 at 8:52 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Hyundai, Koreans, Spyshots
newhyundaisonata
hyundaisonata
hyundaisonatasedan
2011hyundaisonata

This is supposed to be the new 2011 Hyundai Sonata and it’s probably going to be revealed soon since it looks like these shots were sneaked out during a photoshoot for its product images. The front instantly reminded me of the latest Mazda 6, except with a whole lot of more chrome going on there. It’s not easy to see how the side profile of the car looks like in these shots but I really think I’ve actually seen the new Sonata on test (or perhaps it was its Kia Optima sibling) at some proving grounds when I was in Korea for the Kia Koup preview drive earlier this year, and it’s got a very Passat CC-like coupe roofline to it – very sleek and nice. The interior seems to look good as well. The Koreans just keep getting better and better each time they try. They have to, it’s the only way forward.

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Chevrolet Agile: previews the next gen Aveo?

August 24, 2009 at 8:41 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chevrolet, International News

Chevrolet Agile

This is the new Chevrolet Agile, a product that GM designed for the South American market. The Agile’s development was done by GM Mercosur located in Sao Paulo, Brazil at a cost of US$400 million. Target markets include Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay so I don’t think we can expect the Agile to reach our country anytime soon, at least not in this form. There’s some word that a variation of this car will end up launched as the new Aveo though. The Agile is based on the same platform as the Opel/Vauxhall Corsa D and has a wheelbase of 2,510mm, putting it in competition with cars such as the Fiesta and the Polo. A few engines will be available ranging from a 105hp 1.4 litre up to a 129hp 1.8 litre engine.

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Proton posts RM64 million Q1 profit before tax

August 23, 2009 at 3:56 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Malaysian Makes, Proton

ProtonProton hopes to be profitable in this 2009/2010 financial year and so far things look good with a profit before tax of RM64 million for Q1 of the current financial year. Revenue grew by 8% to RM1.85 billion compared to RM1.71 billion in the same period last year. These improved results caused Proton shares to rise about 2.45% to RM2.93 per share.

Proton says this is thanks to a better product mix (Exora, Exora, Exora!) even though Proton sales had actually dropped 2% (now at 39,327 units) compared to the same period last year (39,888 units), but this isn’t too bad considering the total industry volume itself had actually dropped by 11% during the same period. There have been a total of 18,000 orders for the Exora since order taking began up to the 15th of August 2009. The Exora managed 1,600 bookings in Indonesia since its launch recently. Proton currently holds 31% market share of the TIV sales as of June 2009.

In the exports area the company said it aimed to export about 20,925 units this year compared to 18,428 units last year. This is still a small percentage of cars compared to the numbers sold in Malaysia but Proton intends to shift to a more export-centric organisation. Proton also wants to sell more CKD export cars instead of the usual CBU cars currently sold, but CKD usually only starts to become viable when volume increases to an amount that can sustain an assembly line for the CKD packs. Proton has started out with CKD models in China and Iran. GEN2 CKD operations in Iran by Zagross Khodro began in April 2009 and CKD pack supply to Youngman in China have also commenced.

What’s coming up for Proton? Some details were revealed at the Q&A session after its latest AGM and others are revealed in their annual report for the last financial year. What should be exciting for you guys is a new car set for introduction in the second half of next year. Proton would not say which car this is but this car is widely rumoured to be a model based on the Mitsubishi Lancer. Manual transmissions will be offered to keep the entry price point low so this should be very good news for those who want to do their own shifting action in a sporty sedan. A page in the annual report also reveals that a facelift for the Persona is targeted to go into production by the end of 2009.

Further down the launch schedule will be a new car that will be the fruits of a project called the Global Small Car Programme. Proton has revealed that this will be a small and trendy hatchback with a small capacity engine that meets international emission standards. When this is launched, its goodbye time for the Savvy. Proton’s next generation of powertrains (Campro replacement?) are also being developed together with Lotus as part of a program called the Phoenix Project.

In the alternative fuels department, Proton will be skipping hybrid cars and fuel cell cars and will be focusing on electric cars. There was a hybrid system installed in a GEN2 called the Lotus EVE Hybrid Concept that combined the 1.6 litre Campro engine with a 40hp electric motor. From the looks of it, this will probably remain a technology showcase by Lotus to promote its engineering decision.

Proton currently has two prototype electric vehicles – one based on the Saga and another on the Persona. You’ve seen the Saga EV featured here on this blog. It is an EV focused on economy and the 10.1 second 0-100km/h acceleration time (despite 168hp) is a testament of this, but the Persona EV prototype is a totally different animal – it has been developed as a performance EV concept. This likely means larger and higher capacity batteries but a much more powerful electric motor to match!

Look after the jump for a copy of the annual report.
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New 1,000cc Daewoo Matiz Creative unveiled: Korean-badged production Chevrolet Spark

August 22, 2009 at 1:58 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chevrolet/Daewoo, International News, Koreans

Daewoo Matiz Creative

Here’s another anticipated production car that disappointingly looks like its lost some of its edge on the way from concept to production. The car you see above is the new GM Daewoo Matiz Creative, which under the Chevrolet badge will be known as the Chevrolet Spark. It will go on sale internationally at various different launch dates beginning September. Three equipment level will be available – the Pop, the Jazz and the Groove, and the price tag goes up from US$7,260 up to US$8,035 in that order.

Under the hood is a new 1.0 litre S-TEC II inline-4 engine mated to a 4-speed auto making 69 horses and 92Nm of torque. Despite being a small car, GM gave the car 4 mounts for the engine to improve smoothness instead of some car manufacturers which only supply 3 mounts. A three-cylinder turbodiesel engine will come later.

The petrol engine is rated at being able to travel 17 km per litre, or about 5.9 litres per 100km. GM says the S-TEC II engine features something called Port De-Activation which sounds like the number of valves used are variable – less valves at low revs and all valves used at high revs, though I’m not 100% sure as the press release is not really very technical. The chassis is monocoque and is expected to score 4-stars in Euro NCAP tests.

Look after the jump for two more shots of the new Matiz Creative.
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VIDEO: BMW M3 GTR in Need For Speed Shift

August 22, 2009 at 2:28 am By Paul Tan Filed Under BMW, Cars, Videos

BMW M3 GTR

BMW driver Tommy Milner talks about what it feels like to be a race car driver: it’s not about driving a really fast car, its about racing with someone else, and hopefully winning. We get to see some sights and sounds of the new BMW M3 GTR race car, but lots of the video are actually screens from the Need For Speed Shift game which features the M3 GTR. Watch the video after the jump. It’s quite worth a watch to see what Milner has to say about being in a racecar in the heat of a race.
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Petronas Dynamic Diesel: first of the new Euro 2M diesel fuel brands in Malaysia

August 22, 2009 at 1:16 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Malaysian Fuel Prices

Petronas

Euro 2M diesel is now here in Malaysia ahead of the 1st September 2009 schedule. It is priced at RM1.70 per litre. You will be able to find it at all Petronas stations from the 1st onwards in the form of the new Petronas Dynamic Diesel, that’s sold with an additive Petronas calls SINAR D07. Petronas says the previous additive introduced in 2006 was known as SINAR D05.

The new Petronas Dynamic Diesel meets Euro 2M standards, which means a maximum of 500ppm of sulphur in the fuel. This is a huge improvement over the previous standard which limited sulphur content to 3000ppm. But don’t think all diesels were that high in sulphur all this while – a research by Petronas which I pointed to back in 2007 showed that out of 6 brands of diesel at that time (2004), only one had 2800 ppm of sulphur, with the rest ranging from as low as 200 ppm to 500 ppm.

BMW 320d Badge

The availability of Euro 2M diesel fuel may spark an interest in both the car manufacturers and consumers to offer diesel versions of passenger cars and buy these diesel-powered products respectively. However one problem would be the fact that most modern diesel engines are designed to run on Euro 3 (350ppm), so the new Euro 2 diesel may still not be good enough. Euro 4 requires 50ppm, and Singaporean diesel such as Shell ULSD is already compliant.

Companies that are confident of a big enough volume might be willing to do some modifications to suit our market and it is very likely that this will only happen at the more expensive segments where the margins are larger and easier to justify. For cheaper cars, consumers may not be confident enough in diesel cars and most may still shy away from the benefits of a turbodiesel because of the certain negative characteristics of a diesel engine such as the sound and smell.

The worst part is that even for those who are very eager to try diesel cars for the economy it offers, the norm is for diesel powerplants to cost more than a petrol engine, so this may drive up the prices of diesel-engined models to a level too shocking for the budget-conscious consumers at that level to accept.


The BMW 320d Touring was offered here by BMW Malaysia Sdn Bhd when the E90/E91 3-Series was first launched. This model is now gone when the facelift was introduced as response was low.

In the second hand car market, the new diesel may spark a new interest in second hand diesel-powered luxury cars cars such as the Mercedes-Benz E270 CDI or the BMW 530d as a powerful and fuel efficient alternative.

The E270 CDI can be found priced at a good 15% to 20% cheaper than its petrol-powered siblings of the same year and the massive low-end torque of a turbodiesel suits the kind of relaxed drive that an E-Class buyer typically looks for.

We will see more fuel companies launching their improved Euro 2 diesels over the next few days leading up to the 1st September 2009 deadline for the new standard to be introduced. The fuel companies will definitely take this opportunity to rebrand their fuels.

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VIDEO: Perodua Kelisa vs Dr Bore TVC

August 21, 2009 at 10:27 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Malaysian Makes, Perodua, Videos

Perodua Kelisa

This is quite a funny but kinda long ad for the Perodua Kelisa that I found on Youtube. For some reason I don’t remember ever seeing it on TV, but then again I don’t watch TV that often. It’s directed by Barney Chua and produced by Ira Carissa Shah for Perodua, and is inspired by Ultraman and Thunderbirds, amongst others. The Kelisa special editions (with the stripes and etc) saves the world from a certain Dr Bore.
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New BMW 320d EfficientDynamics: a greener 320d

August 21, 2009 at 9:20 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under BMW, Cars, International News

BMW 320d

BMW is making its EfficientDynamics brand have a bigger role than before. Earlier it was just a word to describe a set of fuel saving technologies such as Brake Energy Regeneration and Auto Start-Stop, but now it’s being used as a suffix for cars that are particularly ‘green’. Other car manufacturers also have similiar brands such as Volkswagen’s use of BlueMotion.

The new BMW 320d EfficientDynamics has CO2 emissions of 109g/km and a combined consumption figure of 68.9mpg, which translates to 24.4 km per litre of diesel. The 2.0 litre engine puts out 163hp at 3,500rpm upt o 4,200rpm and 360Nm of torque spread between 1,750rpm to 3,000rpm.

BMW ED WheelsModification over a regular non-EfficientDynamics 320d include a longer final drive, lowered suspension for better aerodynamics, and special aerodynamics alloy wheels with Michelin EnergySaver tyres. The usual set of EfficientDynamics features are also there – Auto Start Stop, Brake Energy Regeneration and Electric Power Steering.

There have also been some modifications to the engine. A dual mass flywheel with springs and new Centrifugal Pendulum Absorbers is fitted between the engine and transmission. The whole point of these modifications that make the engine ‘smoother’ is to allow the diesel engine to spin more smoothly at the lower RPMs that the new final drive provides.

We might see BMWs like this car and the 118d in Malaysia if the new Euro 2M diesel that is supposed to be introduced in September this year is deemed good enough by the car company’s homologation engineers.
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